Council told between .75 and 1.1 mills tax hike needed to balance budget, keep city safe

Cathy Nelson Price

Published
7:00 pm EST, Friday, January 16, 2009

Midland, Jan. 17 - The city will cut personnel and restructure service delivery, but it will still need between .75 mills and 1.1 mills more in property taxes to cover an anticipated $4.7 million gap in its projected 2009-2010 budget without cramping public safety through reduced police and fire fighting services.

For a home with an assessed value of $130,000, that works out to between $48 and $67 per year.

Midland City Manager Jon Lynch told the Midland City Council today that based on community input through a recent telephone survey, the community budget roundtables and general public comment, taxpayers were willing to shoulder a millage rate increase. But they also expect the city to economize on personnel and program expenses through increased user fees, outsourcing functions, and cutting jobs.

"If there is no increase in millage, there would be significant reduction in (city) employment levels, perhaps as many as 25 to 30 empoyees, impacting public safety levels," Lynch said.

The council met in an all-day session to set its goals for the coming budget deliberations.

When the number-crunching begins in earnest in mid-April, the council will be tackling finances to address a short-term budget shortfall, the continued economic downturn, an aging municipal population, and the ongoing need to keep the city's physical infrastructure viable and healthy for new development.

The public will have several chances to comment before the budget is adopted in mid-May.

More news from the council retreat appears in Monday's Midland Daily News.